I'm expecting C5 to be going live very very soon, so I and the other senators wanted to give you all a little idea of how the changes coming will affect everyone playing and not just those who have lots of patch notes listed. So enjoy reading and enjoy playing C5 when it hits live, if you have any questions please let me or one of the other senators know, details of us all will be up in the senate report on Fri.

Chapter 5 brings an enourmous amount of new content to the trader and entertainer professions, I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail on the RE system but I am going to provide a simple overview (well, as simple as I can) and make note of some of the other reasons you may want to search out your local traders and ents, working through what each profession can now offer you.

There are also a few other additions which will affect traders and ents to help their own performances and crafting but for this guide I've focussed on what others can get from the changes directly, not the indirect changes (such as holobands for ents, CD bug fix for traders, expertise improving assembly and experimentation)

Please note, some of the items noted will only be available if certain selections of expertise has been selected.

First the RE system, I strongly suggest checking out one of the new fansites dealing with the combo's but the basic stages are below:

OK, that's the basics of the RE system coming to a server near you soon, now the other new stuff:

Domestic:

Tailor changes are basically covered by the RE system, however there are a few other new, or more to the point old treats for Domestics. The old BE tissues for food have been returned, which means you can now get some fairly nice food and drink again, without having to be able to afford a penthouse suite on Coruscant!

Also there are some new Bacta Kits, these do have a lot of charges (50-60) and the tick for 5 heals over 12 seconds (total of the 5 is the listed heal on the pack). Note, if you take damage the heal will stop, and when you use a bacta pack you can't use another for 60 seconds. They are not as useful as a heal would be for traders and ent, but can be a useful extra boost.

Engineer:

Well, we asked for long enough, and finally we have some new droids!! (we also get the new weapon SEA as part of the RE system if there are folk interested in Engineer WS....didn't think so)

Three models:

• Battle Droid (aka Roger-Roger droid) - Pure combat droid
• Droideka (aka Destroyer droid) - Pure BFG
• Mining droid (mustafarian floating droid) - non-combat droid.

With the new droids has come a new system for determining maximum combat level (Drashk has done extensive testing on this, see details in the Engineering forum) but the point is you can now get cl 60 (sixty) droids

Structures:

Well, this group isn't involved in the new ground RE process, so it has got a lot of new stuff, not all of it all that great, but some of it is gold!

For architects there are two new lines, the first is Elite Harvesters, these take 3 lots and can cap at a BER of 45 so have a slightly faster extraction rate than three separate heavy harvesters.

The second is the return of camps (make sure you read the description on the publish gift, gave me a /smile).

These come in 6 varieties from Basic (last 10-20 min without a battery) through Improved (15-25min), Advanced(20-30min), Quality(25-35min), Elite(30-40min) up to Luxury(35-45min) with 1 module selectable for Basic up to 6 for a Luxury camp. The modules you can install (during construction, so ask your local Architect for what you want) are as follows:

How can you use these, well, try getting one with a recruiter, cloning and shuttle module, keep an entertainer module for keeping the troops morale up and you can set up two bases for some PvP fun without having to work through the crowds at the main pvp areas or if you want to RP battles based around other locations.

In addition to this there are two changes for shipwrights, the first is the ability to get a 1% bonus on RE for space gear and the second is a series of new items for JTL:

So, once C5 hits go look up your local trader, he or she will likely have some new wares for you.

Entertainer:

Beside the new songs and dances there is a new "build a buff" system, it's very powerful when used properly so listen up cause you need to know what you are asking for.

The main aspects of the buff system are as follows:

Now I've grouped them there into 4 categories, General mods, Offensive mods, Defensive mods and Trader mods.

So, what do you think you need for your next fight?

Maybe you know you can beat a guy, but only if you can get a little more damage on him, so take the action cost reduction and critical hit chance mods, maybe add some precision/strength and stamina and you can fire off a few more specials for that extra bit of damage.

Or maybe your problem is staying alive and you know your armour isn't as good as it could be, a full boost to both energy and kinetic combined with the 24% reactive heal and a 2% bonus to your own heals is one package you might consider.

What if your are going into PvP and just can't stand DoT's, how about taking the reactive heal with the DoT reducer, you still have points left to get either 60 bonus on some attributes or 2% bonus to heals.

Or the classics, buff constitution and stamina and armour, that's a bonus of 1,500 to health before you start a fight, and a nice reduction in how much damage you take.

Of course traders will need the mods for what they are experimenting, but the options available really do depend on what YOU need, no longer is it just turn up and get buffed, now you have to think, what is my weakness in the coming fight, what are my strengths, how can I use the buff to build on my strengths or overcome my weaknesses?

Oh, and the new buffs are long....5 and half hours at master with the right expertise in a cantina, a bit shorter out and about, but please, wait before you have the "Max Duration" system message before you accept the buff, or the full duration will not work however long you wait.

Enjoy the new buffs, and enjoy finding the right package for you and the time you and your entertainer can be so close you walk into a bar, tip your hat to the stage and just say "My usual please love"

Overall a publish with something for everyone, enjoy!